# Cold remedies, please - over the counter to out of your mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279 "2006-09-26T22:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/41 "2006-09-27T21:39:50Z")
Everyone posted some great stuff, so let me second All of the Above, and add this one for nasal and chest congestion: **Essential oils of Eucalyptus and Grapefruit**. You can put them in a diffuser, a vaporisor or just on a handkerchief you hold by your nose. You can also put about 5 drops of each in a tablespoon of olive or other carrier oil with just a pinch of cayenne pepper and rub it onto your chest for a fantastic warming, loosening penetrating like-Vapo-rub-without-the-unfortunate-casualties chest rub. Eucaplytus and Grapefruit are gentle enough for the kid’s room when they’re snotty, but I would leave the cayenne out of the chest rub for them. I also like to make **Herbal Chicken Soup for the Snot** , which is your favorite chicken soup recipe (even if it has to come from a can) with added shiitake mushrooms, burdock root, thyme and sage - lots of the herbs, like 5 times what you’d use for regular seasoning - and a spoonful of raw minced garlic put in each bowl before putting the soup in. Yes, to be useful for colds, the garlic has to be eaten raw. Essentially, it gives you an herbal tea in the broth, but it tastes better than tea alone. It’s not as tasty as regular chicken soup, because it’s over seasoned, but it’s healinger. I also like \*\*linden \*\*(“lime tree”) flower, \*\*elder \*\*flower and \*\*burdock \*\*seed tea for the onset of colds and flus. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/42 "2006-09-27T21:43:49Z")
Irish cure: in a tumbler, put 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 slice lemon studded with cloves. Half-fill the glass with hot water, and top up with whiskey. Stir, sip until finished, repeat. After about three, you no longer have a cold. Until the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/43 "2006-09-27T23:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] Is that what they took out of Coricidin D and that ilk? 'Cuz that stuff really worked, but apparently someone, somewhere, took it and got a bad case of euphoria. [/QUOTE] Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) was a great decongestant, and also used often in OTC diet pills, and also was given to incontinent dogs. But there was a slight association with a slight increased risk of stroke when taken by younger women. I was never that convinced there was a significant correlation. Now I’m down to my last 3 doses. Which means the pills are a good 6 years old… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/44 "2006-09-28T01:14:27Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) was a great decongestant, and also used often in OTC diet pills, and also was given to incontinent dogs. But there was a slight association with a slight increased risk of stroke when taken by younger women. I was never that convinced there was a significant correlation. Now I’m down to my last 3 doses. Which means the pills are a good 6 years old… [/QUOTE] That was the only decongestant that I’ve ever found to work for me. I’ve been resigned to herbals, which aren’t as good, for the last 5 years. Is there anything else even chemically close or close in action? Can one get it by prescription? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/45 "2006-09-28T01:39:52Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Me ‘n’ Mr. K don’t get sick. He works out, but I don’t at the moment. We both smoke like it’s our job, we eat whatever the hell we feel like eating. And neither of us has been sick in like 15 years. We have four cats. Why don’t we get sick? [/QUOTE] You two must have sold your souls when you weren’t paying attention or something. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/46 "2006-09-28T01:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] That was the only decongestant that I’ve ever found to work for me. I’ve been resigned to herbals, which aren’t as good, for the last 5 years. Is there anything else even chemically close or close in action? Can one get it by prescription? [/QUOTE] It’s not available for human use. I don’t know if you can still get it for animals. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/47 "2006-09-28T01:44:03Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Is there anything else even chemically close or close in action? [/QUOTE] There is pseudoephedrine, which you now have to ask the pharmacist for, since it is used to make methamphetamine. There’s also phenylephrine, available OTC. Both are decongestants. Both suck compared to PPA as far as I am concerned. But whatever floats your boat. Frankly I found that saline nasal rinses and steam are more effective for me than taking a decongestant which will overstimulate me, raise my blood pressure, and keep me from getting a decent night’s sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/48 "2006-09-28T01:45:18Z")
I didn’t see anyone else suggesting it, but take some zinc. Halls makes a cold relief lozenge that has zinc, vitamin c, echinacea, and a couple of other things. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/49 "2006-09-28T03:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] There is pseudoephedrine, which you now have to ask the pharmacist for, since it is used to make methamphetamine. There’s also phenylephrine, available OTC. Both are decongestants. Both suck compared to PPA as far as I am concerned. But whatever floats your boat. [/quote] Yeah, those don’t work for me even a little bit. The herbal stuff is better. > [@](#): > > Frankly I found that saline nasal rinses and steam are more effective for me than taking a decongestant which will overstimulate me, raise my blood pressure, and keep me from getting a decent night’s sleep. Is PPA that kind of stimulant, you mean? Man, I wish. I’m the most stimulant-resistant person ever. I can use coffee to wash down a couple of No-Doz, sling back some green tea and down a guarana/taurine energy drink and go to sleep an hour later. But PPA did unclog my nose and stop the postnasal drip. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/50 "2006-09-28T03:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) was a great decongestant, and also used often in OTC diet pills, and also was given to incontinent dogs. But there was a slight association with a slight increased risk of stroke when taken by younger women. I was never that convinced there was a significant correlation. Now I’m down to my last 3 doses. Which means the pills are a good 6 years old… [/QUOTE] I found a couple in an old purse, so they are not only six (or however) many years old but covered with lint and smell like perfume, but whatever. But this is annoying. I couldn’t even get it by prescription? It never gave me a stroke…and I am no longer a younger woman, so I’m safe! I tried to replace the Coricidin D with pseudoephedrine and it did not float my boat. Funny, with a few phone calls I could have a whole pharmacopeia of street drugs. Well, a few phone calls and a trip to the ATM…and a certain amount of personal risk for some of them…but I can’t have my decongestant. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/51 "2006-09-28T10:16:41Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=346595&highlight=listerine) was my first post to the SMDB after registering… A question about how safe one of my empirically effective “home remedies” for an oncoming cold really was. The two word summary: **snorting** and **Listerine**. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/52 "2006-09-28T10:38:49Z")
Another disappointed former PPA user (and I’m all out). They used to make Dayquil with that. It was perfect. **WhyNot** , I think **Qadgop** was referring to pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine (cuz that’s certainly what they do to me). I can take one 30mg pseudoephedrine and get a little bit of help, but more than that and I start to get mild anxiety attacks. Very unpleasant feeling. Same dose of phenylephrine (well at least it’s the same size of little red pill) and I don’t sleep. Hope you’re feeling better, **gabriela**. GT ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/53 "2006-09-28T11:09:06Z")
Og dammit. The minor sinus cold I had a couple of weeks back has returned. And it brought reenforcements. Thankfully I still have a bunch of Robitussen (they were completely out of Nyquil!) left – extra strength. Unfortunately my sinuses appear to have gone beyond overdrive and activated the NOS, so while the rest of me is pruned up, my sinuses are still muculating\* like bastards. And I have to leave for work now. **grumble** - Muculating (Mew-kew-late-ing) (v.): Producing excessive amounts of mucous. Stick that in your word-a-day calendar! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/54 "2006-09-28T12:38:30Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] You two must have sold your souls when you weren’t paying attention or something. [/QUOTE] That must be it. Either that or there’s a parallel universe somewhere that has Seinfeldian versions of ourselves all fat, wheezing, feverish, and coughing up a lung. A sci-fi _Picture of Dorian Gray_, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/55 "2006-09-28T14:44:29Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] \*\*Dijon Warlock \*\*, How in the hell did you come up with that one? One day you were getting a cold and said to yourself: “Nothing but orange juice an raw onions today!” Did you try other weird combos before you came upon that one? [/QUOTE] Good question. The answer’s a bit rambling, but here it its: I grew up in a household run by my mother, who believed that the way to get you to like new foods _wasn’t_ to encourage you to try them, but to NOT ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE THE TABLE UNTIL YOU’VE EATEN WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO EAT! This was unnecessarily traumatic to me, but never convinced me to like anything. In fact, to this day, I cannot walk past Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup in the supermarket without shuddering. Nevertheless, when I finally got sufficiently away from my parents (which involved a move across four intervening states), I embarked upon a personal project of trying foods that I wanted to like under my own control. Onions were one of them. I hated onions as a kid. Loved the flavor, but hated the texture–cooked _or_ raw. Of course, parents MADE me eat them, so I hated them and they were thus a target of my determination (don’t get me started on chili beans, which I also eventually conquered). I tried them in little pieces at first, tried cooking with them a bit, and gradually got to like them (they are now one of my favorite vegetables). About the same time that I became an onion-eater, I noticed that the severity and frequency of my colds went way down. Another thing I was doing back then was shopping at my first occult bookstore, buying grimoires, books on shamanism, esp, ceremonial magic, and other paranormal stuff (my parents would have killed me). I also picked up a few facsimiles of medieval herbals, just for their oddness value. I found references to an old folk remedy for head congestion involving wearing half an onion around your neck on a string, and putting half a cut onion in each corner of every room of your house. I thought: “Hey, maybe they had something here…” The other thing that I “knew” about fighting colds was Vitamin C, found in orange juice. I put the two together, and by cracky if they didn’t work. I should note that I was a bit too absolutist about the “nothing but onions” bit. Just make sure that they are 90-95% of your diet for the 24 hours. I have been known to eat onion sandwiches during this regimen: a thick slice of onion–1/4 to 1/2 inch–between two slices of bread with a bit of salt and pepper and (if you’re feeling frisky) some horseradish mustard. Straight prepared horseradish is more potent, but it’s TOO potent for me (it _will_ clear your sinuses, though. Laser beams are less effective). Chop a whole eye-watering white onion into about half-inch pieces, toss them to separate, and mix in just enough salsa to coat. Eat. Blow your nose 'til empty. Topping and tailing and peeling an onion and cutting it into wedges and separating it into layers and eating it like potato chips works for me, too. Drink lots of fresh-squeezed orange juice. Get back to me. No-one wants to kiss me, but it’s not because I have a cold! **gabriela** : It’s only 24 hours! ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/56 "2006-09-28T15:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] That must be it. Either that or there’s a parallel universe somewhere that has Seinfeldian versions of ourselves all fat, wheezing, feverish, and coughing up a lung. A sci-fi _Picture of Dorian Gray_, if you will. [/QUOTE] That’d be me and Mr2U. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/57 "2006-09-28T15:15:57Z")
My favorite remedy for a sore throat is ginger-mint-lemonade. Boil a bunch of chopped-up fresh ginger for 15-20 minutes, strain out the ginger, stir in lemon juice and sugar, pour into a mug and top off with peppermint schnapps. To make a ginger-mint-lemonade syrup, I boil the ginger along with the sugar until it’s well-concentrated, then strain out the ginger, whisk some oil of peppermint into the lemon juice until it’s emulsified and stir it into the ginger syrup. I keep it in a jar and add a few tablespoons to a mug of hot water whenever I need it, rather than having to make several batches of unconcentrated ginger-mint-lemonade over the course of my cold. Honey also works very well in place of the sugar. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/58 "2006-09-28T17:22:52Z")
**Qadgop** - I used to have a dog on phenylpropanolamine, and now I have another older dog who suffers a bit from incontinence (there’s no such thing as a little incontinence!) and I can’t get it anymore. Stupid FDA! StG ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/59 "2006-09-28T19:17:24Z")
To get through the night: Humidifier and saline nose spray. NyQuil washed down with Cognac or Grappa - be sure you are near bed when you do this! Water and cough drops by bed. To get through day at work: Dayquil. Tea - honey and lemon are nice if available. Oranges - 2 or 3. Water and coughdrops always in reach. To get through a day at home: Same as night, add TV remote and a family member willing to bring food. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279/60 "2006-09-28T23:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain] **Qadgop** - I used to have a dog on phenylpropanolamine, and now I have another older dog who suffers a bit from incontinence (there’s no such thing as a little incontinence!) and I can’t get it anymore. Stupid FDA! [/QUOTE] I also suspect _you_ suffer more from your dog’s incontinence than your dog does! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-remedies-please-over-the-counter-to-out-of-your-mind/374279.md?page=4)